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New Apple patent application hints at long-range wireless ranging

If you’re an iPhone user or planning to become one, this is a great news for you. A patent product with a new technology was filed by Apple which suggests wireless charging of future iPhones from across the room.

According to the officially published notes by US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), this new product will be “configured to wireless transmit power over the wireless power transfer link.” It means that this new system may charge multiple devices simultaneously with both wired as well as wireless connections.

Apple is currently focusing on short range wireless charging only because long range wireless charging is not feasible. Because as the distance increases from the charger, power decreases rapidly and there’s a limited amount of power which can be transmitted to single device.

This RF-based short range wireless charger would allow users to set up their wireless charging devices in a certain order. This method will link a single power adapter to various electronic devices in its proximity.

Here is an excerpt of the patent filings’ summary:

A system having a power adapter may supply power to electronic devices. Electronic devices with battery could be charged such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, PCs, smartwatches, fitness bands etc. Charging to the electronic devices would occur both using wired as well as wireless medium. The system with an online user account, will create a communication network and would be connected to the charging devices in its proximity. The system will save information from user such as battery state, priority of charging devices, usage history, calendar and few other information. And this system will transfer different amount of power to different devices connected to it using an optimum power transfer strategy.

Patents doesn’t necessarily mean something solid. Hence, nothing further can be suggested. But this definitely tells that Apple is working hard on creating a wireless charging device. Let’s see when Apple confirms this news officially.

This Japanese developer uses an iPhone X to make his face disappear

In a tweet first spotted by Design Taxi, Kazuya Nosiro, a Japanese app developer and CEO of game development company ViRD, released a 10-second video clip, that shows his face completely camouflaged, except for his eyes and mouth, into his surroundings in a trick of ‘optical camouflage’.

The app (is still a work-in-progress) that Noshiro used to make the trick possible was made on the game development platform ‘Unity’. To pre-record the background of the room, Noshiro first used a fixed camera. Then, he used the app to camouflage his face and replaced it with the background image using iPhone X’s TrueDepth camera face detection capability and Apple’s ARKit development platform. However, the eyes, the hair, and rest of the body were still visible.

In desperate times you might find yourself looking for new games. But good games come at a cost. What if I told you that you could download paid PC games for free and legally? Now, you can either take the legal way or the illegal way to download games. But, taking the illegal way is dishonoring all the hard work the game developers did to create a masterpiece out of their imagination. So, how to get free pc games without paying a penny for premium content? There are a number of websites that giveaway paid games for free. Visit these sites often if you want free games. Here, we have prepared a list of the 10 best places to grab premium games for free.

10 Websites to Download Paid PC Games Free And Legally in 2018

Every now and then, Origin gives a premium game free of cost on this website. They are not trials or demos but full versions and expansions. Games such as Mass Effect 2, and Battlefield 3 were hosted on this site, so keep checking it often to download paid PC games for free.

IGN Beta Giveaway hosts premium games and lets you download paid PC games for free. If you are a prime member then redeem your beta code to get full access to paid games. At the time of writing this article, they are giving away Destiny 2. Isn’t that cool?

While Reddit has several subreddits dedicated to free game giveaways, r/freegames is the most noteworthy. Users submit links to full games and giveaways on this subreddit. So, bookmark this page for getting your hands on some freebies.

You will find a huge community of gamers here. You can learn how to become a member, how to sponsor giveaways, or how to use Steamgifts through their FAQ section.

The link to your steam account is needed so that the community members can find your profile in case you won something or if you need to contact people who won a game of your giveaway. It also makes it impossible for people to try to win games that they have already redeemed on Steam. Hence, the user base is protected, and it’s harder for scammers to use the site.

This website is similar to Steamgifts and works the same way to help you download paid PC games for free. It allows people to host Steam giveaways and the possibility to play and win Steam games. You will need to link your steam account to SteamCompanion. They have a Steam calculator that shows you total worth of your Steam games and time spent on them.

Green Man Gaming is an online video game retailer based in the United Kingdom and has a catalog of over 5200 games from more than 450 game publishers. It has won more than 25 awards, latest being the MCV Awards 2017.

Green Man Gaming has a monthly giveaway for paid games. They send you a Steam key, and if you already own the game, it can be given to someone else.

GOG is a digital distribution platform service for video games and films. It is operated by GOG Limited and is a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt. On 26 March 2009, GOG.com signed a deal with Ubisoft which allows them to publish games from Ubisoft’s back catalog.

They give away at least two or three premium games per year and the give away last for around 48 hours.

It has a great collection of games, and a portion of the price goes towards charity while the rest is split between the game developers. They organize Steam key giveaway and also has a subreddit for requests and giveaways to help you get premium games for free and legally.

DLH.Net has been around for more than 20 years now. Under the motto “By gamers, for gamers,” a large community has developed. DLH.Net got its name from “Dirty Little Helper” because it used to post game cheats and tricks. They give away free steam game keys from time to time and also provide free Steam keys for new users who sign up on their website. So, don’t forget to check out this community to get paid PC games for free and legally.

Steam communities have several groups that give away paid PC games free of cost. Free Games GiveAways has more than 13000 users and give away legal games, Steam game keys, Steam gifts, Steam in-game items or Steam game cards for free. Game GiveAway Group is one of the biggest active community who has given away more than 100,000 games.

Steve WozniaK – the man who co-founded Apple alongside the late Steve Jobs is launching a new portal Woz U and thereby entering the education sector. The portal is designed to promote technology jobs and provide skills to enter the tech industry .The institute will be headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Woz U is part of the private & for-profit Southern Careers Institute which operates 7 campuses in Texas alongside an online school (so do not expect everything on the portal to be free). Yet, Steve Wozniak plans to partner with other colleges and institutes as they develop and grow. The plans are to expand the initiative to include as much as 30 physical locations globally with courses ranging from software development to IT to mobile app development to cyber security.

“OUR GOAL IS TO EDUCATE AND TRAIN PEOPLE IN EMPLOYABLE DIGITAL SKILLS WITHOUT PUTTING THEM INTO YEARS OF DEBT,” WOZNIAK, WHO ALSO WORKED AS AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER, SAID IN A STATEMENT. “PEOPLE OFTEN ARE AFRAID TO CHOOSE A TECHNOLOGY-BASED CAREER BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY CAN’T DO IT. I KNOW THEY CAN, AND I WANT TO SHOW THEM HOW.”

Tech companies interested in using the tools & resources provided by Woz U to train and recruit employees also have access. The platform will be available to students K-12 through partnerships with school districts as well. Further in the future, Woz plans to offer one-to-one instructions to students and also create its own accelerator program for prospective startup founders. The objective is to generate and increase interest in STEAM fields/ careers which include Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics. There will also be a focus on Arts possibly as a nod to Wozniak’s role at Apple and Steve Job’s lifelong mission to blend technology with humanities.

“MY ENTIRE LIFE I HAVE WORKED TO BUILD, DEVELOP, AND CREATE A BETTER WORLD THROUGH TECHNOLOGY AND I HAVE ALWAYS RESPECTED EDUCATION. NOW IS THE TIME FOR WOZ U, AND WE ARE ONLY GETTING STARTED.”

No pricing details have been revealed so far, although a mobile app is already availabe with some introductory courses. You can also enroll yourself with Woz U starting today , though do not expect much other than providing your personal information.

Now there is another addition to the list of ways you can reuse your old smartphone: by turning it into a personal surveillance system to catch any unexpected guest or intruder trying to circumvent your privacy and security.

The credit goes to a new open-source Android app called Haven created by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Freedom of the Press Foundation, and the Guardian Project.

When installed on Android phone, the Haven app activates different sensors on the device. It uses the front and back camera sensors to look for any motion change in surroundings. It takes the help of the microphone to spot changes in the volume level.

The app uses the ambient light sensor to notice changes in the surrounding’s lighting. The accelerometer is used to detect motion changes of the device itself. The app also observes whether the device is charging or losing power.

You can easily monitor all the things happening around the Haven-powered device as it regularly sends recorded feed and other information to your main smartphone via Signal. The same can be accessed in Haven’s log over the internet using Tor or if you have physical access to the device.

Where does the Haven app find its utility? Well, there are many places. You intelligently place a Haven powered device beside your valuables to capture any suspicious activity and prevent unwanted things from happening. For instance, it could be your laptop containing some top-secret documents, or you can use it to protect your precious gifts from your friends.

However, some obstacles might prevent your personal surveillance system from working efficiently. Haven would require an always-on internet connection. So, a user would have to make sure the device uses mobile data in case the WiFi connection is not available. Disabling the real-time notifications or receiving them via SMS could be a workaround.

A person aware of the device’s password or pin could potentially delete the app’s log if he has physical access to the device. Another concern is that the attacker can disable the device sensors by compromising it remotely.

Still, Haven is a free watchdog you have at your disposal. Currently, the open source Android app is released as public beta. You can download it from Google Play and F-Droid.

Fundamentally proven security systems are important, in fact, they are almost the need of the hour as the hackers are becoming advanced by the tick of the clock. The rise of quantum computing would give them more power to crack open the existing encryption systems.

So, quantum encryption is now a part of geek-talks across the world, although, it first came to fruition in 1984. Recently, we told you about China readying their quantum messaging service. But the hard truth is that the current implementations of quantum key distribution come at the price of speed, downplaying themselves in front of traditional encryption techniques. If we talk about the “quantum internet,” a user can’t even perform basic things like video streaming.

Now, it appears that it might become a thing of the past. The researchers at the Duke University have found a way to compensate that speed limitation, putting more data in every photon. By altering the release time of photons, the researchers can encode 2 bits of data in every photon, exceeding the earlier limit of 1 bit. The changes happening with the photon are detected using high-speed photon detectors.

Image: An experimental setup.

Thus, their quantum key generation techniques deliver tight encryption without throttling the speed. The best part about quantum encryption: even if someone tries to peak at the data in transit, he can’t even do so without leaving easily traceable errors.

However, getting quantum encryption to the commercial market is still far than it seems. But all the required components, except the single-photon detector, are currently available. The setup would be big, possibly with the size of a desktop computer. The researchers say that their system is also scalable to “free-space quantum channels” or over-the-air.

After much anticipation, Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s new electric semi truck in Hawthorne in an invite-only event.

Aptly named Tesla Semi, this truck accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in five seconds. With 80K lbs load, which is also its maximum capacity, it’ll be able to touch the same mark in twenty seconds. Talking about the range, it can go 500 miles at highway speed.

According to Tesla, the truck beats the traditional diesel rivals when it comes to handling and responsiveness. It can also cover more distance in same time span. Tesla Semi’s significant strength lies in the no need for shifting of gears with regenerative braking.

Acceleration 0-60 mph with 80k lbs: 20 sec

Speed up a 5% Grade: 65 mph

Mile Range: 300 or 500 miles

Powertrain: 4 Independent Motors on Rear Axles

Energy Consumption” Less than 2 kWh / mile

Fuel Savings: $200,000+

The company claims that Semi is the safest truck ever, thanks to advanced Autopilot, a centered driver position, and low center of gravity. The cost of ownership of this vehicle is also about half of the traditional trucks.

As a surprise launch during the event, Musk showed off the new version of Roadster sports car.

This convertible has four seats. In this car, you can go from 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds, which means a quarter mile in 8.9 seconds. While Elon Musk didn’t confirm the top speed, he hinted that it’s somewhere above 250 mph.

During the unveiling, he called Roadster 2 a “smackdown” to the fossil-fuel loving auto industry.

It packs a 200kwh battery pack that provides a 620-mile/1,000km range. As per Musk claims, one can drive from Los Angeles to San Fransisco, and back, without recharging.

Advanced batteries, like the ones capable of fueling an electric car in just 5 minutes, have only been a part of demonstrations. Traditional lithium-ion batteries have reached their limit of their charge-holding capacities which has led to numerous efforts to improve the capacity, reliability and charging speed of batteries that power our devices.

Samsung is also working on their own tech to produce batteries for devices that could charge up to five times faster than conventional alternatives.

The researchers at the SAIT (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology) have synthesized a highly conductive material called graphene into 3D popcorn-like “graphene balls” using Silica (SiO2).

The development was conducted in collaboration with Samsung SDI and School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University. The researchers have filed applications for graphene ball technology patent in the US and Korea.

Graphene balls, the new material created out of the process, can increase the capacity of a battery by up to 45% than a traditional Li-ion battery. Researchers have used these balls for both anode protective layer and cathode materials in Li-ion batteries. So, it’s an improved version of Li-ion cells, instead of being an entirely a new thing.

Theoretically, a graphene ball-based battery could be charged in 12 minutes. Currently, even with fast charging, it takes around an hour to fully charge a smartphone.

An advantage provided by the graphene ball battery is its ability to maintain a constant temperature of 60-degree Celcius. It is a crucial requirement for the functioning of self-driving vehicles. So, the application of the battery could include self-driving cars, in addition to smartphones and other mobile devices.

The paper titled “Graphene balls for lithium rechargeable batteries with fast charging and high volumetric energy densities” has been published in Nature Communications. You can read it using this link.

Humans have always wanted blazing fast internet. So, what’s that thing that could give what we desire? Probably, it’s something from the past rather than from the future.

A rare mineral, first discovered in Urals Mountains of Russia in 1839 by Lev Prevoski, has excited scientists by exhibiting properties that could be exploited to make our internet around a lot faster than today.

Known as Perovskite, the Calcium Titanium Oxide (CaTiO3) mineral has a crystal structure (including many different cations) which could be modified as per requirements. The mineral exists in Earth’s mantle in Arkansas, Urals, Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany where it has different compositions.

Earlier in 2009, it was discovered that Perovskite could also act as a nature-made photovoltaic cell by absorbing sunlight and converting it into electricity. So, experiments are being done to create solar cells using the mineral.

Now, the scientists have found that the mineral can use the terahertz (THz) spectrum for data transfer. Their system which can transfer data using a halogen lamp over terahertz band (frequency range 300-3,000 GHz) includes a particular composition of Perovskite deposited as thin layers on silicon wafers.

When the light passes through Perovskite, the scientists can stuff data in the THz waves. They also found that they can change the color of the light to modulate THz waves at different frequencies at the same time. Thus, by using multiple different-colored halogen lamps, they can send multiple data streams that are 1,000 times faster.

The research was published earlier this month in Nature Communications. Developments like this look promising, and they would open new technology horizons. But, according to the scientists, we shouldn’t expect anything commercial within the next decade.

While Apple keeps getting the majority of profit share of the smartphone market, Android smartphones continue to enjoy an unparalleled popularity among the masses due to their user-friendliness and cheaper price. For about half the price of an iPhone, you can grab an Android flagship and enjoy top-notch specifications.

Due to this popularity, Android has become one of most popular operating systems in the world. There are numerous tools available on the web that promise to provide the best phone management but only a few of them turn out to be useful; such is the case of recovery tools that help you get your lost data back. The lost data being talked about here could be due to a faulty upgrade, malware, physical damage, water damage, etc. To help you out, here I’m going to tell you about MobiKin Doctor for Android.

This tool helps you in the time of emergency when you need to get back important documents. Mentioned below are seven types of data that can be recovered by this tool:

Contacts

Messages

Call Logs

Photos

Videos

Audio

Documents

Talking about the supported devices, MobiKin lets you recover data from all popular brands like Samsung, Motorola, HTC, LG, Google, Sony, Huawei, Asus, etc. The same is true for Android versions. The tool performs a deep scanning of the device’s internal memory and SD card for performing the recovery. You have the option to get back contacts, call logs, and SMS in HTML format. One should note that root access is needed for performing these actions. In case of files like media and document, root access isn’t required and the files are preserved in original format.

Use Mobikin Doctor for Android for recovery

You can go ahead and download Mobikin Doctor for Android by clicking on the download button given below. The setup isn’t large in size and it just takes a few moments to complete the download. After that, perform the installation like any other regular software and open the program.

To start the recovery process, you need to first connect your Android device to your computer using the USB cable. Before attempting to connect, make sure that USB debugging is enabled on your phone. Once you’ve done that, connect your device and you should be able to see the device information in the program window. In my case, you can see the device name ASUS_Z012D, model number, serial number, charging level, etc.

Below the device information, you’ll see different types of data listed that you can recover. By default, all types of data is selected. You need to choose as per your requirement and proceed with the recovery process.

After selecting the type of data that needs to be recovered, simply press the Next button. It’ll start the scanning process to find out which files have been deleted and which can be recovered. Depending on the amount of stored data on your Android smartphone and the number of deleted files, the time of scanning might vary.

Once the scan is completed, all the deleted files are listed in a new window. As you’re seeing in the picture shown below, the list of file types is in the left pane. Once you click on a file type, data of the same is displayed in the right. You also get to see the preview of the file, which helps in making the right choice during the recovery process.

After analyzing the deleted files and choosing the ones that need to be recovered, you need to proceed with the Recover option. It’ll prompt you to specify the recovery location on your computer. After selecting a location, you can complete the process and get back your precious data.

Apart from getting back the lost data from the Android internal memory, you can also do the same for SD card. To do so, you need to select the Android SD Card Recovery option from the top tap in the application and proceed with the options.

Overall, if you’re looking for a simple way to recover your deleted data like messages, contacts, photos, etc., from your Android device, you can use Mobikin Doctor for Android. You can visit their website to get the free trial or buy the full version for $49.95.